Church Christmas Party and heading home!

We had a great Christmas party this weekend at our church! Everyone brought a dish to share, we had our annual gift exchange, and everyone was very surprised when we had Pastor Gary call via Skype. He spoke a quick but beautiful message about how the world may see us as nothing but God sees as us perfect. It was so quiet in the chapel while Pastor Gary was on skype, about 50 people just sitting there, with their gifts and food and desserts and coffee, but completely silent. We were blessed to have a good number of visitors and see some faces that we have missed in the past couple of weeks. It's always a great time for us to see everyone's faces before going home for Christmas. We are so grateful and excited to be one our way back to the States for a few weeks to celebrate Christmas and New Years. So we apologize in advance for not posting in the next couple of weeks. We will be happily home with our families and church and celebrating Christmas together.

God bless you all who faithfully read our blog and we are so thankful for your continued support.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Matt & Emily

My contribution to the Christmas party. Baking is always a small feat over here when your dealing with trying to track down all the right ingredients.

We had a special visitor who was a trained opera singer and sang some beautiful Christmas songs for us.

Most of the wonderful ladies in our church.

My dear friend from Iran

Serious present opening during the gift exchange.

Little Benjamin got his hands on a makeup kit that was gifted and unveiled his hidden talent as a makeup artist.

Christmas Outreach

Two years ago we decided as a church to give out Christmas gifts in the local area on the streets. We wrapped a pocket sized Gospel of John with an insert about how to get saved and an invitation to church and candlelight service. We also attached a candle on the books with a ribbon to make it a really nice thing to give and receive. We had such a great response that we decided to do it again this year. After days and days of volunteers in the church working hard to get hundreds of gifts ready to give out we finally got a chance to hit the streets with them. It was so fun to give people a wrapped present and see their faces light up. To some it's the only gift they're going to receive this Christmas season. And it's also a great opportunity to share the gospel, because it's a perfect example of how easy it is to receive a free gift when you have done nothing to merit it.

Berlin Teens- Going Forward with God!

Just a quick update from the Berlin youth group. We had a great night with our teens last week during a visit from Mat Laflame (http://matlaflamme.blogspot.com/). He spoke with our teens about our lives being a mystery, how we cannot always explain our lives and our faith to our friends, because their understanding is limited. It is so encouraging to us to see them respond to the gospel and to teaching. Our group is small but we are so thankful for the few that we have. Please continue to keep our youth group in prayer. For more teens to come out, for fresh ideas, for a hunger in their hearts. We love our YOUTH!

We played a game that was a mix of musical chairs and charades. When the music stopped you had to jump into groups and make yourselves into the object that the leader called out.

So much to be thankful for

Thanksgiving can be a tough time for those on the mission field. You realize then more then ever how far away from home you really are. Whether it's in the small things like not being able to buy the ingredients for that pumpkin pie you want, or the big things like not being with your own family on Thanksgiving day. But we would have to say that God has been so faithful to us every year to give us joy and surround us with amazing people.

This year was no exception & here's a short list of things we were thankful for this past Thanksgiving...

1. A Thanksgiving spent in Budapest with a room full of 25 friends

2. Amazing food sure to cure any homesickness

3. Two beautiful nights of snow fall

4. Quality time spent with great friends

UK/Ireland Conference

We had a great 2 days last weekend in the UK. Seven of us from Berlin came to Swindon, England for a small conference with Greater Grace churches from England, Ireland, France, Romania, Finland and Hungary. It was such a refreshing time to hear messages from our Pastor in Baltimore and spend time with other missionaries out on the field. It is so easy to feel unqualified on the mission field, but it was so encouraging to sit down with others doing the same thing, with the same vision, and encourage each other to go forward. We can look at the vision God has given us for Berlin and be overwhelmed sometimes with how small we are, but when we are equipped with the message and renewed in the body we are more the qualified.

Visit from Pastor Moon

We were blessed to have Pastor Moon with us in Berlin for the past few days. This picture was taken at the Holocaust Memorial, downtown Berlin.

We had such a great time of fellowship at our Thursday night Bible study in Pankow, in the north and former East Berlin.

The church was very blessed Sunday morning with a very encouraging and provoking message from Pastor Moon. The church must be "sober," think with God, and "watch unto prayer" because "the end of all things is at hand," from 1 Peter 4:7. He had to catch his flight immediately after service, but we were so glad to have him here. We were also happy to house our first overnight guest in our new apartment.

Does My Faith Withstand the Trials of My Life?

Many times we separate the details of our every day life from our belief system. It becomes so easy to find a solution on my own for the simple little needs of life, what should I eat right now, how can I finish this project at work, how can I learn this information before my exam, and so on. Then the giant storm comes that shakes my ability to solve my problem on my own. I am forced to turn to my belief system (my faith) for a solution outside of myself.

For some, perhaps there isn't much substance to my faith that really applies practically to my life. A "higher power" may sound nice, but it is lacking the only characteristic that I need to make it through my storm, a personal touch, a relationship, a comfort. I have chosen, however, to make my belief system more comfortable. I am free from responsibility to something or someone other than myself. I can easily say that God is not real, it makes life much more independent, fun, and comfortable. That is until my comfort is taken away by a massive storm, which requires something more than I can give. Suddenly, my belief system and it's ideals are far removed from me as I grasp desperately for something that really applies to my life and ALL of it's problems.

I believe this is what David the Psalmist was referring to in Psalm 139:23,24 - "Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." David said to "try me," or prove me with some test. Immediately we think of being perfect before God, or not failing in the test, but I don't believe that this was David's point. The point is this, that when God tests us, the trial proves to us how much we need God. The storm reveals the "wicked way" that is in each one of us and how desperately we need God to lead us "in the way everlasting." Trials aren't a twisted display of works, but a time for revelation of our need for the grace and companionship of God. When God is at the center of my belief system, my relationship with Him grows in the measure that I reach out beyond myself to the one who practically meets my needs.

Fall Outreach Photos

Keep Going!

We have now had a full week of feeling the transition of the Groenewold's departure and having Pastor Stephan leading church services. We were really blessed on Wednesday evening by a group that came from America to do gospel concerts as a form of outreach in the city of Berlin. They were led by the same person who sent a group last year around this same time, and last year we held the concerts in the Uckermark (East Germany). This year God was very sensitive to timing and we actually didn't have to plananything for them, they just showed up and sang for almost an entire church service. It was beautiful to see them afterwards spending time with people in the body, one and one and praying with different people. The presence of God was there, and you could really sense that God had this for our church at this particular time. The group was encouraged by the way that our church was continuing on with a new Pastor, and as a result they encouraged other body members here in the same way.

Pastor Gary spoke an amazing message at his last church service here. He said, "Success is believing God is gracious and then receiving grace. Only know one message, the message of the grace of God. Be simple. Believe it. Receive from God. Receive truth." What an amazing message to leave on. If we continue on in grace there is nothing to worry about. The worry comes when we try to run our own race and do it ourselves. We cannot afford to miss the grace of God. So as we think about Pastor Gary we cannot help but think about the things he would say to us daily, "don't stop, keep going, push through the walls" and by God's grace, we keep going!

The Groenewold's last church service... Stephan becomes Pastor Stephan

Some photos from this past Sunday's church service.

Pastor Gary preached a beautiful message on success...

He then had all the men stand up in the church and thanked each of them.

He also prayed over Stephan and presented him to the body as the new Pastor.

It was an unforgettable church service.

... and lots of puffy eyes.

Preparing for a New Phase

As many of you that read our blog probably already know, we are preparing for the new phase in our church here in Berlin. The Groenewold family is heading back to America in exactly 3 weeks from yesterday. We are prayfully anticipating the unknown as we go forward here in Berlin and in the church. We made the decision to stay in Berlin for the next year, after hearing the Groenewold's would be going back to America. And our decision was affirmed in our hearts when we came back to Berlin and were able to tell the body members here that we are staying. We are holding our new church leader, Stephan Stein, up in prayer and also the body members here. That we would have unity, oneness, and press forward as a local assembly. I think Philippians 2:2 is a great verse for our church right now... "Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind."

Please keep the Groenewold family in prayer, as you can imagine the expenses of moving over the ocean are quiet steep. Pray for their finances, their family, jobs, and a place to live in the States.

Some pictures from the day we helped the Groenewold's

pack up their furniture and boxes to be shipped to America.

TEEN CAMP '09

I know this happened a while ago, but we never got a chance to post this slideshow that we made. We wanted to give all of our followers an opportunity to see what God is doing in the youth here in Berlin, Germany. We were so blessed to have such an amazing Teen Camp last year. We had 16 Teens be a part of our camp from a total of 6 teens that are regularly in the church. Many friends of the teens in our church came and heard the gospel in a very fun setting, for the first time, in some cases. Please keep the youth of Berlin in your prayers!

Kari Jobe & Gateway Worship in Berlin

What a weekend! We were really excited to find out a few weeks ago that Gateway Worship and Kari Jobe would do a concert/seminar weekend in Berlin for free. We listen to their music a lot, particularly myself playing Kari Jobe loudly in the house, so it felt really personal to us to have them visit Berlin of all places. Friday night was their first free concert, we had a group of about 15 people from our church meet us at the train station so we could all head out together. It was there that the night took a significant turn downward for one of us. I got food poisoning! It started to hit hard just as we were leaving for the concert. The farther we got on the trip there the worse it got, and by the time we got off the train, an hour away from home, it really hit. Thank God for Kathie Groenewold, who being a mom, took me to a restaurant, got me a coke, and a place to sit with some fresh air for a bit. Matt had to continue on with the group to the concert, as he was the only one who knew how to get there! At that point we were so far from home, I was already sick, and there was no way to get home but to go back on the subway for about an hour which I knew I just couldn't stomach. I thought maybe if I just got to the concert there would be an alternative way home. The church that hosted the concert had the nicest people working for them. They sat me up in a spare room on a "bed" until the concert was over, and they even found someone who lived in our neighborhood who offered to drive me home. Looking at this picture now I realize how pathetic this looks, but when your sick and away from home, the opportunity to lay down in a quiet place was amazing. I only realized later that I was practically in a Janitor's closet.

In the meantime, those who came from our church had a great time getting to experience American worship music. They also got to meet Kari Jobe and the worship team afterwards and speak with them for a bit. She was so available to speak with people, nothing but nice and down to earth.

Well after what felt like an eternity 24 hours of recovery, I was able to make it to the second concert on Sunday night. It was an amazing night of worship and from what I heard a much more intimate setting then on Friday night. It was such a blessing to get to be a part of that worship service. Often times we say that one of the things that we miss the most about being in our home church is the worship service. When we are here we are so involved in the services (Matt plays the guitar, I take care of the screen projector and sound board) that we rarely get a chance to really take in a worship service. We were so thankful for Kari Jobe and the bands time that they spent in Berlin. We got the opportunity to speak with them afterwards, and ride home on the train with 2 of the lead guitar players and we felt like we had been friends with them forever. It's a real testimony to the body of Christ, I think, the connection that we can sense with other believers. And it's always refreshing to spend time with Americans! Thank you Gateway Worship and Kari Jobe for visiting Berlin!